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One month to go: Sprinters and hurdlers on fast track to Moncton
Australia's world junior championships
team will depart our shores for Canada in just one month as the
countdown continues to the 13th IAAF world junior titles from July
19 to 25.
Acclimatising in Vancouver, the team will take part in three days
of competition across two meets, the Kajaks International Track
Classic and the Trevor Craven Memorial Meet, before arriving in the
host city of Moncton, New Brunswick, on July 14.
The team itself is 37-strong, with half the athletes selected to line up in sprint or hurdles event. Of these 19 athletes, 10 will take to the start line in individual events with a further nine athletes making the trip to Canada as part of 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams.
Caitlin Sargent (Qld) and Patrick Fakiye (NSW) are two of the athletes who will be flying the flag for Australia in the 100m. Representing Australia for the first time at the world junior championships, the pair boast 100m personal best times of 11.73 (w:1.8) and 10.54 (w:1.2) respectively and will also line up for relay duty, Sargent in the girls' 4x400m and Fakiye in the boys 4x100m.
The boys' 4x100m relay team also includes 200m sprinters Mathew Turk (Vic) and Jake Hammond (NSW), with Tom Gamble (Qld) rounding out the squad.
Turk cemented his 200m berth by impressing selectors with a new personal best time of 21.27 (w:0.3) at the Briggs Athletics Classic before taking home the Under 20 200m national crown in March, while Hammond, who endured a hamstring injury early in the year, was successful after posting two qualifying performances in Sydney in late 2009.
In the girls' 200m, Karlie Morton (NSW) and Ella Nelson (NSW) will take to the start line chasing Australia’s first podium finish in the event since Lauren Hewitt in 1996. Seventeen-year-old Morton was a member of the Athletics Australia Under 17 Development Squad last year and in March improved her personal best to 23.93 (w:-0.3). Despite being the youngest member of the track team, Nelson is the current Under 20 200m national champion, taking line honours in the final in 23.68 (w:-0.6), a new personal best time.
Australia’s contender for the one-lap event is Anneliese Rubie (NSW), the 18-year-old bursting into 2010 with six back-to-back improvements on her 400m personal best. In the 4x400m relay Rubie will be joined by a bounty of Queenslanders in Louise Maybury, Shannon Smith and Caitlin Sargent.
Alex Beck (Qld), Joel Bee (Vic), Grant Billingham (ACT), Kuey Diew (Qld), Johnny Rayner (Vic) and Steven Solomon (Vic) will form the boys' 4x400m relay squad, looking to continue Australia’s recent success in the event at a junior level on the back of an open age bronze medal at the 2009 Berlin world championships.
Lining up in hurdles events are Rosie Lawson (Qld, 100m hurdles), Sam Baines (Vic, 110m hurdles), Mitchell Tysoe (NSW, 110m hurdles) and Sasha Alexeenko (Qld, 400m hurdles).
Baines, a 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games gold medallist, blistered down the straight to take home the Under 20 110m hurdles championship in March followed closely by Tysoe, a 110m hurdles representative at the 2009 IAAF world youth championships where he placed equal ninth.
Alexeenko was born in Belarus before relocating to Australia with his parents, following in their footsteps by taking to the track. A member of the 2009 Athletics Australia Under 19 Talent Squad, the 19-year-old won gold at the 2008 Pacific Schools Games and earlier this year was crowned Australian Under 20 400m hurdles champion.
The large contingent of sprinters and hurdlers will next compete at a competition education camp in Brisbane on June 26 and 27. While providing an invaluable warm up for the world juniors team, the meet also provides an opportunity for other athletes to enjoy a winter hit-out including those chasing an elusive Commonwealth Games qualifying performance ahead of the October Games.
For more information and to register please click here.
For more information on the 13th IAAF world junior championships, including an introduction to the team’s jumpers, throwers, distance runners and walkers in coming weeks, stay tuned to athletics.com.au.
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